A week after a Russian ballistic missile attack on the centre of Sumy, which caused heavy civilian casualties, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said that "strikes on civilian targets are carried out if they are used by the Kyiv military."

Source: Putin quoted by Russian state-owned news agency TASS

Details: The Russian ruler repeated the "justification" used by Russian propaganda: that the congress centre of Sumy State University was ostensibly hosting an award ceremony for "those who committed crimes in Kursk Oblast".

"Russia considers these people criminals who received the well-deserved punishment for their actions," said Putin. The Russian leader is known for his tough stance on terrorism, as supported by the notorious phrase "kill terrorists in the latrine".

"As for the proposal not to hit civilian infrastructure, this needs to be addressed," he added.

Quote: "The Armed Forces of Ukraine hold gatherings, meetings, talks in restaurants, celebrate something, drink horilka. Is this a civilian facility? Yes, it is a civilian facility. But what is its purpose? A military one. We need to figure this out. This is all a subject for careful study, possibly bilaterally, as a result of a dialogue. We do not rule this out. So we will analyse all this and make appropriate decisions."

Background: 

• On 13 April, the Russians struck the centre of Sumy two times with a two-minute interval, likely with an Iskander-M high-explosive missile. The speed of this missile is over 2 kilometres per second. The repeated ballistic missile strike on Sumy caused a large number of deaths and injuries.
• According to the latest data, 35 people were killed and 117 people, including 15 children, were injured in the Russian attack on Sumy on 13 April.

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